This essay focuses on the relationships in families of juvenile offenders under correctional custody in Rio de Janeiro. The study is based on interviews with mothers of poor adolescents under the responsibility of juditial authorities of the district of São João de Meriti. The author emphasizes psychological and social aspects of the matter, indicating points which may collaborate for teenagers to join the drug traffic universe. A brief report of the Brazilian historical social inequality points out the victimization of the working class people, relegated to an inferior position in the society. The poor adolescents gain visibility through illicit acts, preoccupying and terrorizing the same social class that had excluded them.